Abstract
Reconstructions of the opening of the North Atlantic Ocean generally result in the Orphan Basin, offshore Newfoundland, Canada, lying approximately conjugate to the rift basins on the Irish Atlantic margin at the onset of seafloor spreading toward the end of the Early Cretaceous. Most of these plate reconstructions have involved rigid plates with plate motions based solely on the interpretation of oceanic magnetic anomalies. In particular, these reconstructions often show the Rockall Basin, west of Ireland, forming a continuous Mesozoic basin with the West Orphan Basin, offshore Newfoundland. However, more recent plate reconstructions involving deformable plates have called this conjugate relationship into question. The goal of this study is to investigate the validity of this potentially continuous basin system by reconstructing and restoring present-day seismically-constrained geological models both spatially and temporally back to their original configurations pre-rift. By comparing the reconstructions in terms of sedimentary package thicknesses and crustal thicknesses in 3D, using both rigid and deformable plate reconstructions to orient the reconstructed models, we are able to test different basin connectivity scenarios using a multidisciplinary approach. Our analysis provides subsurface geophysical support for the hypothesis that the Rockall Basin was originally conjugate to and continuous with the East Orphan Basin during Jurassic rifting, later linking to the West Orphan Basin as rifting evolved during the Early Cretaceous. This complex basin evolution example highlights the need for using 3D rifting mechanism models to properly understand the fundamental driving forces during rifting and has significant implications for assessing basin prospectivity across conjugate margin pairs.
Highlights
Several petroliferous Mesozoic sedimentary basins are located offshore Newfoundland and Labrador, eastern Canada, which were formed during the Late Triassic to Early Jurassic rifting that proceeded to the opening of the modern North Atlantic Ocean [1,2,3] (Figure 1B)
Based on new insights from these plate reconstructions, we investigate the possible connections between the East and West Orphan basins and the Rockall Basin by adding the depth dimension to existing plate reconstructions, using seismic reflection data interpretation and basin restoration
Based on the interpretation of seismic reflection lines acquired on the conjugate Newfoundland and Irish Atlantic margins, we have restored those 2D interpretations back through time and used them to build temporally and spatially evolving 3D geological models, constrained by published plate reconstructions
Summary
Several petroliferous Mesozoic sedimentary basins (e.g., the Orphan Basin, the Flemish Pass Basin and the Jeanne d’Arc Basin) are located offshore Newfoundland and Labrador, eastern Canada, which were formed during the Late Triassic to Early Jurassic rifting that proceeded to the opening of the modern North Atlantic Ocean [1,2,3] (Figure 1B). On the conjugate Irish Atlantic margin, several basins were formed at approximately the same time (Late Triassic to Early Jurassic; e.g., the Rockall Basin and the Porcupine Basin; [4,5,6,7,8]; Figure 1C). Greenland possibly as early as the Triassic [11,12,13], with simultaneous, intermittent rifting episodes affecting the Rockall [4,14] and Orphan [2,15] basins during the entire extensive, reaching as far north as between Canada and Greenland possibly as early as the Triassic Jurassic period. [11,12,13], with simultaneous, intermittent rifting episodes affecting the Rockall [4,14] and Orphan [2,15] basins during the entire Jurassic period.
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